1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of instruction, training, coaching, and competitive rink facilities, and particularly to a rink used in the sport of ice or roller hockey.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ice (and roller) hockey is a fast and dynamic sport. Each player's "on-ice" position constantly changes. Team and individual play continually alternates from offense to defense and back again, usually in a matter of seconds (or fractions of second).
Among hockey instructors, trainers, coaches, and players there is great emphasis on "a good work ethic". That emphasis is a practical recognition of what is required of ice hockey players, namely that they be persistently attacking (on offense), aware of conditions leading to counter-attacks, defending against attacks (on defense), and at all times in motion.
Instruction, training, and practicing for ice hockey are relatively complex and demanding. Hockey is a "high skill" game with a long and steep learning curve. Players are required to skate, handle hockey sticks so as to control the puck (known as stickhandling), pass, shoot, understand positional and situational play, check (blocking the opponent) and execute many individual skills, in very close sequential order, while working in concert with teammates.
Ice hockey instruction usually begins with the demonstration (or explanation) of a skill, tactic, or maneuver by the instructor, followed by repetitious execution (practice) by players. Practice sessions typically include individual skill development and team preparation. Speed and power skating (explosive starts and stamina building) drills as well as stickhandling, passing, shooting, checking, and other individual aspects of the game are usually incorporated into practice sessions and selected team plays are practiced as well. For example, plays which require constant repetition include those that originate in the face-off circles, those that develop while in offensive command of the puck, and/or those that occur while executing defensive maneuvers. Ice hockey is a unique sport in terms of its requirements for speed, balance, strength, timing, panoramic vision, and agility as well as the team plays which are major components of the game.
Ice hockey players need to achieve a high level of fundamental physical/athletic skill in at least seven areas. They are: (1) agility, (2) balance, (3) form, (4) impact, (5) speed, (6) strength, and (7) timing.
Teams need to improve performance by practicing passing, playmaking on offense and defense, player advantage and disadvantage tactics used during: (1) power plays (advantage), i.e. when, due to penalties to the opposing team, the opposing team loses one or more of its players for a period of time giving the advantaged team a one or more player advantage or, (2) conversely, short handed (disadvantage) tactics, known as penalty-killing.
In order to make the most of each instructing, training or coaching session, players must attain and repeat a high level of control over each of the seven fundamental physical/athletic aspects of the game noted above. Team players must similarly attain a high degree of accomplishment in executing plays that require command of both physical/athletic and cognitive skills.
It is generally recognized that the amount of time spent practicing on the ice ("ice time" for both hockey players and teams) bears a strong relationship to the attainment of skills. However, it is also generally recognized that within most geographical areas there is a shortage of available ice time. There is on-going competition for ice time and therefore blocks of time for instructing, training and coaching is limited for many players and teams. In the struggle and scramble for quantitative "ice time", attention to the optimal qualitative use of that time has been subordinated.
Currently, the objectives of ice hockey instructors are reached with few or no technological aids. For example, electro-mechanical devices for controlling on-ice playing variables and repeating specific conditions, so that individual skills and team play can be enhanced, is virtually nonexistent. Similarly, electronic measuring devices and computer assisted (or interactive computer "games") technology for training and coaching are virtually non-existent. Devices currently used for instruction/practice in ice hockey include:
(1) nylon parachutes pulled by the skater(s) (used to increase drag, and therefore, the skater's leg strength by overcoming the drag), PA0 (2) surgical tubing attached to a harness on the skater's shoulders and, at the lowest point, to the skates causing the skater to bend at the knees and waist while skating (a preferred skating position for ice and roller hockey), PA0 (3) lengths of wooden boards (or hockey sticks) placed on the ice for practicing jumps and other skating maneuvers, and PA0 (4) orange plastic traffic cones, used as pathmarkers for skating drills.
Devices (1) and (2) mentioned above are designed to increase players' strength and form but do not provide instruction/practice in the skills, moves and maneuvers which are particular to ice and roller hockey.
Devices (3) and (4) described above (i.e. the use of wooden boards and orange plastic traffic cones) can be used to practice skating maneuvers in ice hockey but suffer from their placement (on the surface of the ice), which is to say that the skater is forced to pay undue attention to the surface of the ice. Looking at the ice surface is contrary to what must be done to play ice hockey. Playing ice hockey requires lines of sight to teammates and opponents and far less so to the puck (on the ice surface) itself. In effect, guiding, passing or shooting the puck must be mastered so that they are done by touch and timing, leaving the skater free to see his/her competitive opportunities. Realistic training devices would, therefore, provide above-ice lines of sight. Even with unlimited ice time, learning and teaching the skills of the sport suffer from the absence of conditions that simulate a realistic skating environment. As a consequence, learning is prolonged or poorly assimilated and practicing becomes arduous, less specific, and less effective than desired.
It is difficult to provide players with precise conditions that would allow them to emulate ideal maneuvers or to practice against an ideal opposing player (or team). The problem is controlling the variables. In existing practice sessions a player usually practices opposite the instructor or another player(s). Since every "opposing" player or instructor is prone to human error or simply fatigue, maneuvers and skills cannot be repeated in a desired optimal fashion. This process inhibits players from practicing a desired maneuver until it is perfected: it lengthens the learning process and "loses" many players except for the truly motivated. Players may learn "bad habits" while playing opposite a less than a carefully structured opponent or by emulating a less than proficient example. Instructors, trainers and coaches face a daunting challenge, to control, in a time-effective manner, the conditions (variables) on ice, so as to achieve enhanced individual skills and team play.